The Sons of Anarchy club went through a couple of changes of leadership in seven seasons, but the real club leader wasn’t even a member of the club: Gemma Teller-Morrow (Katey Sagal), Jax’s mother. Kurt Sutter gave viewers a glimpse at the world of motorcycle clubs in the TV series Sons of Anarchy, set in the fictional town of Charming, California. Leading the series was Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), VP of the club at the beginning of the series and the son of one of the founding members, John “JT” Teller, who left a manifesto in which he detailed his plans and vision for the club, which were very different from what President Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) had done.
Jax spent most of his time in Sons of Anarchy trying to lead the club towards what his father planned for it, but he came across a variety of obstacles and enemies over the course of seven seasons, and though he eventually became SAMCRO’s President, he was never really the leader of the club, nor was Clay. Although Gemma wasn’t a member of the club, she had a lot of influence on SAMCRO and was very manipulative, making her the real, secret leader of Sons of Anarchy, but she led the club and its members into some truly complicated and tragic situations, which ultimately also led to her own death.
Gemma Had Too Much Influence On SAMCRO (Despite Being An Old Lady)
As the widow of JT, wife of Clay, and mother of Jax, Gemma was the matriarch of the club and the main “old lady”. Per the rules of motorcycle clubs, women aren’t allowed to join, but they can party and hang out with the club. Gemma’s role went beyond that, and even though she wasn’t a member of the club, she had too much influence in it, and she was seen as a respected authority figure by the rest of SAMCRO’s members. Gemma was aware of what happened within the club and with other groups thanks to Clay and Jax, and she was an expert in manipulating them into doing what she thought was best, either for her, Clay, or Jax, and not always for the benefit of the club.
Gemma used her position as a SAMCRO “old lady”, Clay’s wife, and Jax’s mother to show power and threaten others, and while she usually did this under the excuse of protecting her family, this brought a lot of trouble for the club on different occasions. Gemma also lied a lot, which she also used to manipulate the club as she wished, so even though she never sat at the President’s chair nor did she lead meetings at the clubhouse, she was the real, secret leader of the club, moving the pieces the way she wanted to and guiding Clay and Jax on the direction she decided was best. Gemma’s secret leadership of SAMCRO even made way for a theory about how she represents “anarchy”, with her “sons” being all members of the Sons of Anarchy club, thus why the show’s title.
Gemma Was Responsible For Jax’s Death
Gemma’s influence and lies reached a point of no return after she killed Jax’s wife, Tara (Maggie Siff), in Sons of Anarchy season 6. Gemma lied to Jax about Tara’s murder, blaming the Chinese for it, which unleashed a series of violent events provoked by Jax as he wanted revenge for Tara’s death. Gemma’s lies led to the deaths of Bobby Munson and Jury White, as well as Jax’s demise and her own. When Jax learned what she had done, he had no other choice than to kill her, and she knew it, and as he killed fellow member Jury White, per the club’s rules he had to meet “Mr. Mayhem”, and so Jax sacrificed himself on the road, similarly to how his father died. Had Gemma not had so much influence and control on SAMCRO, Sons of Anarchy would have been very different, and some of its main characters might still be alive.